Greece is making great efforts to complete a contract with the US oil company Chevron and Helleniq Energy’s Greek company to explore energy resources off the coast of Greece by the end of the year, according to the Greek Minister of Energy.

Chevron and the largest oil refining company in Greece, Helleniq, submitted a joint offer to a Greek competition this year to search for gas on four deep water plots off the Peloponnese and the island of Crete.

“We work intensively with the US company and Helleniq Energy to adhere to the timetable and complete the contract by 2025,” Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou said on the Greek television channel Action24.

Greece, which produces very small quantities of oil and depends on large imports of gas to produce electricity and domestic consumption, has shown a strong interest in exploring natural gas and strengthening its role as a Transit of Natural Gas, Ukraine.

Once the contract with Chevron is finalized, it should be approved by the Court of Auditors and the Parliament of Greece, before the company can launch seismic surveys in 2026, and will have up to five years to identify potentially exploitable deposits, Mr Papastavrou said.

Any test boreholes will not take place before the period 2030-2032, he added.